A large study published today has found that adopting 5 habits can result in more than a 10 year gain in life expectancy, even if started later in life. A man at 50 adopting all 5 habits can expect to live another 38 years, instead of 26. The gain was 14 years for women. The 5 habits are not smoking, 30 minutes of exercise a day, maintaining a healthy BMI, drinking no more than a glass of wine a day for women and two glasses for men, and eating fruits and vegetables and limiting saturated fat, sugar and red meat. The impact is quite striking when you consider that following these habits will add about 15% to the lifespan of a man and 17% for women. There are other benefits: So not only is life extended but it's likely to be healthier years as well. Full article Full Research Article BMI Calculator
We must have good genetics in my family. My great grandpa, smoked, and grew his own tobacco. Lived to be 99. I guess he could have made it to 109 if he had not smoked? His daughter, my grandmother smoked and dipped Garrett snuff and lived to be 97. My paternal grandpa grew his own tobacco, and lived to be 97 as well. I am not saying smoking is good for you, just that genetics has a lot to do with whether smoking takes years off your life or not. BTW, all of these long lifers also ate lard, cooked with it, and also ate fatty meat and consumed lots of butter and milk, being farmers. All of those bad things didn't take years off of their life, given the age that they were when they died. I have known several people to bump a hundred and were smokers with high fat diets. Most were from my grandparent's generation, or my dad's. But these people came from long life families as well. Which is why I say the right genetics will yield long life regardless of smoking or diet. Face it folks. No one is gonna live forever and more than likely when your time comes to die, it will be too soon. I know people who stress out over living a long time, and spend lots of money and time trying to do just that. Yet, in the end, what does it matter. Death awaits us all, and whether you are 60 or 99, it comes far too soon.
bmi calculators are a guide, lack of muscle or extra muscle is always explained in the BMI calculations...
But not calculated. Scales are relatively useless for the same reason. I threw mine away. Watching the waist size is as good as any method. Here's a good trick - always put on your socks while standing up. The fatter you get, the harder it gets. It's an easy check of your % fat every morning. If you can't even do it, then you need to lose at least 30 pounds of fat. I found it useful to think of at in terms of gallons of milk. For every 8 pounds of fat or so, you could fill a gallon milk jug with it. How many milk jugs of fat are you carrying around? Having an extra 32 pounds is like carrying around 4 gallons of milk all day.
I went low carb and consequently stopped eating processed foods. Without realizing it, because I wasn't eating all the salt in crap food anymore, I had dramatically reduced my salt intake. I had already stopped adding salt to most foods. Before I knew it, my blood pressure had dropped like a rock. 140/90 or so back to normal with no drugs. The last time they checked it was 110/75 IIRC. It was as low as I'd seen it since I was about 21 years old.
A nutritional newsletter that came in the mail states that the studies used to back up the idea that saturated fat is linked to heart disease and shortened lifespan were six cherry-picked studies that ignored a much greater number to the contrary and were limited to only a few sample countries, whereas many more countries such as Norway were also contrary. The reason given for such deception: money. Big agra companies would rather we stuff ourselves with corn, wheat, potatoes, and soybeans.
Watch out for salt avoidance that is too strict. A diabetic friend had to stay on a doctor-advised salt-avoidance diet, partly also because of blood pressure, obesity, & cholesterol issues. He was getting worse despite all the medical attention. I could tell by some of his symptoms and the suspicious diet that he needed to add a pinch of salt to his regimen. He did so and got better right away, and the main doctor he was seeing agreed with the action, having also learned of a timely refinement of the official medical position.
Elephant in the room question Who would want to live to a ripe old age if they aren't in good health?
Nope, varicose veins are completely unrelated to standing and more than likely Age related although technically can be had at any age.
I tick all 5 as well, but I doubt I will live that long. Genetics are about 75% of your fate the rest is up to you.
Yes, the same is true for low carb diets. You need an absolute minimum of about 25 grams of carbs per day. That is extreme and difficult to maintain. Less than that will put you in the hospital. It is an intense regimen that also absolutely requires extra hydration. Many people on ketogenic diets have ended up in the hospital due to dehydration. Ketosis soaks up water like a sponge. As for salt, the RDA is 1500 mg of sodium. It is easy to get twice that much just from processed foods each day. https://sodiumbreakup.heart.org/how_much_sodium_should_i_eat
Genes plays a role but isn't the biggest determining factor in life expectancy. Americans have almost doubled their average life expectancy since 1800 and genes didn't change in that period. What changed were advancements in medical care and nutrition.
I knew a guy who ran his whole life even through snow storms, he got killed running. Struck by a teen texter. When your numbers up, its up regardless of how many glasses of wine you drink or how much you exercise. Im going for enjoying as much stuff as I can before I go.